the deeper story behind my work
it all began with a little orange cat
there’s a long and lovely story there, about how I was there for him in his first breath and also his last in my arms years later. short version that has you reading this page: my orange boy was in a perilous place between life and death, I tried every traditional approach I could get my paws on to help him, nothing did…
and then the mystery came for tea and saved his life.
it looked like reiki and shamanic practice, back at the turn of the millennium when few folks knew what those things were, and the internet was a quieter and kinder place. both energy healing and working with the spirits saved my friend, and I give thanks every day for the presence of the wild loving divine in my life.
since then, it’s been a wild and wonderful quarter century living this work.
small, strong, sweet
I’m not a big fan of huge groups or exposure, and I honor the folks who can field that kind of transpersonal energy. I’m a tender critter at heart, and my whole being simply sings to be in a small circle or sit one on one with a woman moving through big life moments.
so it’s amazing to look back at all of those individual sessions, classes, circles, retreats, and ceremonies the spirits have invited me to create for you and say – wow, what a deep honor to have walked with 5,800 women through meaningful endings and beginnings, bright and wondrous times, hard and terrible ones, and everything in between.
for everyone who’s been with me all of these years – and you if you’re just arriving – thank you for the exquisite honor of showing up for and with you.
training
my path has been anything but linear! (laughter)
strong seeds were planted with learning and then teaching 20 distinct levels of reiki back in the day (usui, komyo, karuna, lightarian lineages). at the same time, my shamanic training grew as I adventured through sixteen-month trainings and two-year teacher trainings (in addition to a whole slew of workshops and short immersions).
a third wisdom stream arrived working with indigenous elders, who flew to this country 18 times over 9 years to sit in ceremony with my student groups. I’m honored to have received forty-six initiations from them – all of my love and respect to their quiet, grounded teachings.
and then, of course – the spirits. my loving helping spirits in the marvelous unseen worlds who have cherished me and midwifed me through terrible initiations and many comings home. I do not name most of my helpers in the unseen – some things are held close to the heart.
the spirits know who I am, and know my love for them. many times, their love has saved me.
all that said – formal studies have included traditional and contemporary reiki, shamanic healing, ceremony, energy medicine, ancestral healing, spirit work, divination, and sacred practice.
with gratitude, I honor my human teachers, including francis rico, joann pun, nan moss, david corbin, daniel foor, laurelle gaia, sandra ingerman, nicki scully, hyakuten inamoto sensei, and serge kahili king. I hold equal reverence for my helping spirits, ancestral teachers, the bright and well ones, the natural world, the goddesses, and the cherished friends and colleagues who have shaped my life and work.
after all these years, the mystery keeps surprising me.
past projects & creations
horn tootin time? let’s do it. none of this has been linear, either – just what emerged organically…
in early days, what a joy to train 650+ reiki students in tiny, close-knit circles. it was an equal honor to teach 150+ advanced shamanic students in long year-and-a-half immersions. the spirits helped me create seven annual reiki retreats, an ongoing healing clinic that served thousands, and a particular favorite is the many years of trunk shows offering evolutionary spiritual tools (hi, ahhhmuse! I love you!). sprinkled in there were visiting shamans from australia and siberia, indigenous elders, and global reiki, astrology, and ancestral-healing teachers.
I’ve been blessed to hold space for astounding humans from every walk of life and in some amazing locations – in japanese art galleries, tiny hidden healing studios, and on sacred mountaintops.
service from the heart has looked like volunteering reiki with horses, teaching energy healing to unhoused youth, offering healing sessions for organizations like wix and the wonderful rainforest action network, and lecturing at global healing symposia.
some of the most wonderful projects along the way have been creating 20+ original programs and long-form courses. particular favorites include group hug, created on the first day of pandemic lockdown; the goddess & me, a nine-month immersion; the good witches, a year-long journey; aphrodite’s day, a women’s retreat; mentoring & the moon, lunar teachings; the inner circle, a deeply rooted women’s circle; sacred stones, a reiki and crystal intensive; space holding 101 for budding healers, the very special endings & beginnings threshold circle, and most recently the midlife molt as I move through that passage myself.
has it all been shiny and tidy and pleasant? nope. sometimes it’s been grueling or precarious, which is a thing most leaders don’t talk about much. if you hold space, you get it. it’s been a long, strange trip to get here and I’m still gratefully breathing air here planetside with you. I wonder what comes next?
the journey has been strong, and sweet.
theory of practice
I believe every woman carries her own wisdom, beauty, strength, personal power, and sacred way of walking in this world – my role isn’t to tell you who you should become, or fit you into a healing formula. (shudder)
instead, it’s my honor to listen deeply.
I listen with the woman before me, the movement of energy, the spirits, and what asks to emerge in her life. we sit with love without condition as the lantern, our helping spirits at our sides, and a big vibrant tool basket to help us along with treasures like soul retrieval or extraction or labyrinth healings, personal retreats or medicine keys or creative ceremonies.
no two sessions or circles are alike because no two women, lives, dreams, or moments are alike.
the mystery is welcome here. so are discernment, choice, laughter, and ordinary waking life.
healing modalities you’ll meet here
full disclosure – rattling off a list of healing modalities might sound fancy but not actually help you in a healing process. that said, you might be looking for something specific.
here’s a pretty complete-ish list of the toolbox available to you:
activations • akashic healing • ancestral work • ceremony • channeling • cord healing • crystal grids • dowsing • dynamind technique • elemental work • extraction • goddess work • guide retrieval • labyrinth healing • living altar creation • magical council • medicine keys • metatronia energy® • oracle healing • past-life regression • perfect-health blueprints • personal-retreat creation • power restoration • karuna reiki® • komyo reiki • lightarian reiki® • usui reiki • sacred art • sacred storytelling • shamanic divination • soul retrieval • spiritual-contract work • talisman creation • tarot • unburdening and unwinding
…and sometimes, new healing technology that helping spirits bring through just for you. those are my favorite ‘days at the office.’ (grin)
living practice
my work doesn’t stay still.
it’s moved through energy healing, teaching, working directly with the spirits, healing clinics, community circles, retreats, ceremony, mysteries, stranger territories, and sacred forms of practice.
after twenty-five years, I still feel true wonder when something beautiful arrives that neither of us could have planned – that’s what anchors me in my ongoing devotion to this work.
and there you have it. or some of it. (laughter) if you’re shopping for a new practitioner your heart feels good about, I hope some of that helps you in your discernment.
I’m my own funny kind of sacred wingnut, and I imagine you are too. I look forward to seeing you by the fire, in the stars, in the circle.
with heart,
anna
